PORTLAND, Ore. – The last time Seattle Pacific won both ends of its annual volleyball road trip to Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene, all of the current Falcons were still in grade school.
 
Now, they're competing for SPU and pulling off something that hasn't happened since 2011.
 
After scoring a four-set victory at NNU last Thursday and then coming from behind in the deciding fifth set to win at Central on Saturday, the Falcons have been selected as the Team of the Week by the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
The honor takes into account performances by all GNAC squads across the five fall sports during the previous week: volleyball, men's soccer, women's soccer, men's cross country, and women's cross country.
 
 

"Both are tough places to play. Both were loud, and both were tough environments," head coach Jason Rhine said. "We're glad to come away with two wins and now, we're excited to be back home for the next couple weeks."
 
During that 2011 season, Seattle Pacific won in four sets at both Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene, part of an overall 21-7 season.
 
The Falcons have prevailed in both locals since then – but not in the same season. Most recently, they won last year in Ellensburg and in 2019 in Nampa.
 
Last Thursday against the Nighthawks, SPU was up 2 sets to 1, but was down 23-20 in Set 4 as the hosts tried to force a fifth. But the Falcons ran off the final five points to close it out, 20-25, 25-14, 25-19, 25-23.
 
On Saturday, Seattle Pacific was up 2 sets to 1 at Central, but the Wildcats did come back and extended it to a fifth set. They had an 8-5 lead before the Falcons ran off 10 of the final 13 points to clinch a 20-25, 25-17, 25-21, 17-25, 15-11 victory.
 
"I just told (our players), if you would have told us before we got here that we would play a Set 5 at their place – new gym, good team – if we get a chance to play to 15 on the road to win it, then we should be excited to be here" Rhine said. "And we played well in that Set 5."
 
SPU, which has played 12 of its first 14 matches out of town, is now home for three matches over the next two weeks. That stretch begins on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. when Western Oregon comes to Brougham Pavilion. Saint Martin's is here on Saturday at 2:00 p.m., then it's a visit from Montana State Billings on Saturday, Oct. 8, at 2:00 p.m.